The present application relates to a semiconductor structure and a method of forming the same. More particularly, the present application provides a method and structure for forming semiconductor chips with a physically unclonable function (PUF).
Semiconductor chip authentication is becoming more and more critical for cloud and mobile applications. The ideal semiconductor chip authentication should be hard to attack, randomly generated, and low cost. One means for semiconductor chip authentication is to implement a physical unclonable function (PUF) within the semiconductor chip.
A PUF is a physical entity that is embodied in a physical structure and is easy to evaluate, but hard to predict. Further, an individual PUF device must be easy to make, but practically impossible to duplicate, even given the exact manufacturing process that produced it.
Conventional approaches for implementing PUFs within a semiconductor chip require additional processing steps and thus increase process cost and complexity. Therefore, there is a need for a cost-effective way to fabricate a semiconductor chip with PUFs.